ARTHUR BISHOP
Well-known member
that little grebe is the one for me Its going to be a cracker.Love the others too and that scenery. bit flatter in my part of the world.
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Welcome to Nick's dining room table. (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter nickderry
- Start date
nickderry
C'est pas ma faute, je suis anglais.
I wish I could agree Arthur, but the little grebe is starting to go the same way as my water rail! Put it away, come back to it tomorrow! Luckily sleep is calling me and have lots of work tomorrow so I can come back to it fresh tomorrow evening rather than sit and fiddle with it all night.
Looking very much forward to this weekend, am going camping in La Dombes region. Slightly early for the best birds but should be at least a few whiskered terns in (I hope) and if not, there'll be plenty of other stuff about. Hopefully will have a lot to post next week!
Looking very much forward to this weekend, am going camping in La Dombes region. Slightly early for the best birds but should be at least a few whiskered terns in (I hope) and if not, there'll be plenty of other stuff about. Hopefully will have a lot to post next week!
nickderry
C'est pas ma faute, je suis anglais.
A watercolourist should never work so much on one picture, hence the saviour of all paintings, a good slap of acrylic, has been added. I want to get this one finished tonight so as to start some new pics on Wednesday after all the sketching I hope to get done over the next few days.
Please please please, could everybody wish me a wryneck, I want one very much and have been very good this week!
Please please please, could everybody wish me a wryneck, I want one very much and have been very good this week!
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ARTHUR BISHOP
Well-known member
What a change Nick.taking the foreground away has opened the picture up and I love the way you are still drawn in to the L. Grebe. Luck with the Wryneck
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Gill Osborne
Well-known member
I love these pictures Nick :t:
Sending (((((( LUCKY VIBES )))))) for a Wryneck or three
Sending (((((( LUCKY VIBES )))))) for a Wryneck or three
nickderry
C'est pas ma faute, je suis anglais.
Thankyou all that wished me luck for wryneck, it didn't work! No sign of them at all, didn't wish hard enough! Also I nearly missed out on Whiskered Tern (I knew it was still a bit early for them, luckily a couple dropped by right at the end of the day, giving distant but certainly tickable views), otherwise, I filled about 40 pages (some with just one or two squiggles). Here are my highlights.
I remember once visiting Woolston Eyes in Cheshire to search for Black-necked Grebe in summer plumage and saw two distant ones, this weekend there were hundreds of them, and some not shy at all. Here are the sketches, with a few GC Grebes and a Little Grebe hiding in the background.
Also I nearly missed out on Whiskered Tern (I knew it was still a bit early for them, luckily a couple dropped by right at the end of the day, giving distant but certainly tickable views), otherwise, I filled about 40 pages (some with just one or two squiggles). Here are my highlights.I remember once visiting Woolston Eyes in Cheshire to search for Black-necked Grebe in summer plumage and saw two distant ones, this weekend there were hundreds of them, and some not shy at all. Here are the sketches, with a few GC Grebes and a Little Grebe hiding in the background.
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nickderry
C'est pas ma faute, je suis anglais.
I think the highlight for me was the purple herons, a species I'd always wanted to sketch but never had before (only seen a few fly-bys one day 2 years ago), ambition fulfilled:
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nickderry
C'est pas ma faute, je suis anglais.
Also on show were the White storks, not sure how wild these birds are as they nest in the zoo in the area but are free flying, like the night herons I saw. Never mind, in a picture you can't really see the difference!
Also two different grass snakes, one with a fish, one that is not in the same picture as the R C Pochard, also saw an adder, two new reptiles for me!
Also two different grass snakes, one with a fish, one that is not in the same picture as the R C Pochard, also saw an adder, two new reptiles for me!
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nickderry
C'est pas ma faute, je suis anglais.
think I'm nearly there now......
first whitethroat of the year, first sedge warbler of the year, a fly by kingfisher, on the same page the birds on the right hand side are, from the top, osprey, cattle egret and whiskered tern.
then we have some Crag Martins and Alpine Swifts, both lifers for me, in a beautiful area of cliffs on the way back.
I've got about 20 paintings to be getting on with now so should be very busy, my little grebe pic is looking very dull and dirty so am going to restart it aswell, I really liked how it was looking in the last update, should have just finsihed it then rather than fiddling. Live and learn.
first whitethroat of the year, first sedge warbler of the year, a fly by kingfisher, on the same page the birds on the right hand side are, from the top, osprey, cattle egret and whiskered tern.
then we have some Crag Martins and Alpine Swifts, both lifers for me, in a beautiful area of cliffs on the way back.
I've got about 20 paintings to be getting on with now so should be very busy, my little grebe pic is looking very dull and dirty so am going to restart it aswell, I really liked how it was looking in the last update, should have just finsihed it then rather than fiddling. Live and learn.
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Woody
Well-known member
All terrific Nick. My favourites are the heron head studies and the kingfisher flyby. I can really see how much energy you've put into all these sketches, they are brimming with life. Makes me want to escape the office and spend my time more constructively, sketching in the outdoors!
Woody
Woody
buzzard12
Well-known member
Superb work. Incredibly prolific sketching! All of it is great though the Black-necked Grebes are outstanding. The G C Grebe climbing on to the nest is bang on...Also like the Stork head and nest, as well as the super flight studies of Alp Swift and Crag Martin.
Plenty to work on there Nick, well done and thanks for putting them on!
Plenty to work on there Nick, well done and thanks for putting them on!
ARTHUR BISHOP
Well-known member
I agree with all , they are superb.The Herons make it for me though.
timwootton
Well-known member
Just have to add my appreciation of a truly exeptional folio of drawings - absolutely breathtaking! - For sheer believability - the heron in flight is so true, it would render a thousand photographs redundant. Of the huge amount of other drawings here which I enviously admire, the swifts are mind-blowing!
The whole series amount to a prolific and stylish contribution - I would get painting as soon as my a*se hit the chair - you are such a rich vein of form (am I detcting a slight change in your observational work,Nick - or is it just my imagination?).
Wonderful, wonderful work - if I could make one drawing of this quality over the next ten years, I'd be happy (and I am not patronising you!).
Good lad!
The whole series amount to a prolific and stylish contribution - I would get painting as soon as my a*se hit the chair - you are such a rich vein of form (am I detcting a slight change in your observational work,Nick - or is it just my imagination?).
Wonderful, wonderful work - if I could make one drawing of this quality over the next ten years, I'd be happy (and I am not patronising you!).
Good lad!
peter mathios
Well-known member
Tim put it perfectly! You have some serious talent! Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor...
nickderry
C'est pas ma faute, je suis anglais.
Thank you all for the comments, sadly, I'm still buzzing so much from all the frenetic sketching that I haven't made a decent picture of anything since I got back, one sedge warbler is done and is pleasing but not great, and I've ruined a lot of paper trying to paint reeds with purple herons in them! I hate reeds I hate reeds I hate reeds! Grrrrrr. (Getting the wax crayons out now, should help!)
nickderry
C'est pas ma faute, je suis anglais.
I've been getting too bogged down trying to paint detail (Something I can't do very well - unlike some other people on this forum) and so the purple herons have twice had their beautiful light reedbed habitat turned into something looking like congealed mushy peas (I worked in a chip shop for ages so know what this looks like and know how much I hate the sight of it) So here I post two 'ruined pics' that have hit a dead end, and may be turned into collages later, and also the 'wave of the future' that hasn't been turned into a lost mess, keeping a light touch with this one, no white or black to be used (bad watercolourist me!)!
Also a sedge warbler, badly over exposed photo, try tilting your monitor to see it better.
Also a sedge warbler, badly over exposed photo, try tilting your monitor to see it better.
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ARTHUR BISHOP
Well-known member
It will come Nick. I like the sedge w.
nickderry
C'est pas ma faute, je suis anglais.
Being a bad watercolourist, there is now white on the new herons, though it is done and dusted and I can move onto a different picture, that sedge warbler needs a little bit of tinkering to get the osier to look less like a christmas tree.
Enjoyed some redstarts, wood warblers and peregrines today, France doesn't seem so different to Wales now, though swapped red kites for black (there are usually both though!) and seeing a lesser whitethroat made my day as they're pretty rare in Ceredigion.
Enjoyed some redstarts, wood warblers and peregrines today, France doesn't seem so different to Wales now, though swapped red kites for black (there are usually both though!) and seeing a lesser whitethroat made my day as they're pretty rare in Ceredigion.
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